Shouta all but groaned. He wasn't used to working with anyone but Hizashi, and even then he had to remind himself that he wasn't just risking his own life on these stupid patrols and the like. He rolled his shoulders back and down allowing almost his full face to be seen above the capture weapon once more.

"Well, it's routine, for me at least. Follow along? How long's it been since you did side gigs Mister Number One Hero?" The joke fell flat in his even tone, only the slight upwards inflection indicating he wasn't entirely serious.

This sentence alone sent alarm bells ringing through the skeletal Hero’s head, and he knelt down to this young one’s level, cerulean eyes meeting wide, childish pink. Something had to be wrong here. He couldn’t assume, but… her expression, her demeanour, spoke of a well-kept secret.

“All right, young one. I’ll respect your privacy. But if you ever need a listening ear, then I promise that I’m really good at keeping secrets, all right? You’re safe with me.” Would she believe him? Not necessarily. But trust was important.

🎀      𝑘𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑘𝑜 𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑢𝑔𝑖 .      🎀

          she   can’t .      she   knows   she   can’t .      because   even   if   he   believed   her ,      it   would   only   mean   that   she   would   end   up   somewhere   even   worse      —      probably   an   orphanage ,      where   the   same   things   would   probably   happen ,      but   she   wouldn't   have   anyone   who   loved   her .      but   if   anyone   would   be   able   to   help   her ,      shouldn’t   it   be   him ?      she’d   seen   him   on   the   news      —      how   he   saved   people .      he’d   looked   different   then ,      but   it   was   still   him .

          but   what   could   he   really   do ,      other   than   exactly   what   her   mother   had   told   her   would   happen ?      she   would   be   put   into   an   orphanage ,      her   mother   would   probably   be   put   in   prison ,      none   of   the   people   who   deserved   to   be   punished   would   be ,      &&   he   would   be   gone ,      because   why   would   he   care   what   happened   to   her   after   that ?      maybe   it's   true   that   she’s   safe   with   him ,      but   he   would   leave   soon .      then   what ?

Settling back onto his heels, Hawks gave a faint chirping sound. "Aight, Captain Hook, your own personal Short Tom's gonna have to get a better vantage point." The pirate jokes, ohhhhh the pirate jokes. At least this little birdy seemed to have a good sense of humor.

Gee, he wondered why. Maybe it was because he was tied up in the League headquarters? No, it couldn’t be, surely. Maybe he just woke up on the wrong side of bed. Or of the chair he was currently bound to. Sure, that was it. Nothing to do with being kidnapped at all, no sirree. Toshinori just gave the teen a done expression and spoke up. His attitude would probably be punished, but he simply couldn’t summon any spare fucks to give at the moment. Probably too tired and loopy with blood loss to care all that much, outside of basic survival instincts screaming at him to move move get out you’re in danger.

“Could it possibly be because you kidnapped me?”

💉      𝒽𝒾𝓂𝒾𝓀𝑜 𝓉𝑜𝑔𝒶 .      💉